Review Page: The Fencing Master by Arturo Perez-Reverte
| Title: |
The Fencing Master |
| Author: |
Arturo Perez-Reverte |
| Format: |
Novel |
| Genre: |
Crime / Historical |
| Publisher: |
Panther |
| Date of Publication: |
14 January, 2000 |
| ISBN: |
1860466656 |
No. of Reviews: 1
Av. Rating: 7/10
Buy this book from the Amazon website.
12.11.2000 - Indigo - 7/10
List of Reviews | Bio
The Fencing Master is a snapshot into the life of Jaime Astarloa, at a time where political circumstances coincide with events in his lonely life. The results are predictable - betrayal, lust, murder and intrigue - but that is far from an adequate summary of the story. Whilst the novel offers nothing new in terms of the detective genre, it contains sketches of a life in such honesty that the principal character is a living, breathing figure in the mind of the reader. The character is both gallant and bumbling, opinionated and yet unaware of his surroundings. Even his flaws, which might be viewed as somewhat pathetic in a lesser novel, only draw the reader's sympathies.
The time is 1868, the location Spain. Don Jaime, the Fencing Master, is 56 years old; he is old-fashioned, lamenting the way in which the noble art of the sword has fallen by the wayside to be usurped by the vulgar practice of pistols. When Adela de Otero asks him to take her as a pupil and teach a secret sword-thrust, he is initially unable to countenance the thought of a female fencer. Later, he learns that she is an expert and his infatuation with her skill and beauty draws him into a web of political intrigue. His inevitable infatuation with her is protrayed superbly, and is the main theme of the book - the political plot is secondary to their relationship. The other characters, Jaime's friends and pupils, are similarly portrayed with skill. Jaime is a solitary figure, and the author demonstrates this to the reader in the detatched way that Jaime silently listens to their conversations.
Fencing is the major topic of this book, and whilst I personally understood much of the terminology, a non-fencer might have trouble. At the same time, the repetative way in which the exercises are laid down, whilst showing the way Jaime's mind works, are a little excessive after a while. A reader who knows the terminology might be tempted to say "so what?" whereas to a non-fencer the terms are meaningless anyway. In this respect the author uses technical fencing terms in the same way that some SF writers enjoy tedious repetition of scientific trivia as filler.
The plot isn't up to much. However, as blindingly obvious as it is, the ending is still excellent and does not let the reader down in terms of pace and elegance. The entire novel is not so much short as succinct: it aims to provide a vignette of predictable events from the perspective of a very human character, and it does so admirably.